Classic Shakespeare play adapted for television by Russell T Davies. In the tyrannical court of Athens, pitiless dictator Theseus plans his wedding to Hippolyta, a prisoner of war, and young Hermia is sentenced to death by her own father. Meanwhile, in the town below, amateur theatre group the Mechanicals rehearse, with all their comic rivalries. And beyond Athens, in the wild woods, dark forces are stirring…

Red Jasper is one of the forgotten folk prog bands from the early to mid '90's from british scene. Looking for their albums for years , only last year I was able to put my hands on two albums , this one A midsummer's night's dream and the next ine Winter's tale. Biggining their career in late '80's as a folk bad but with a special neo prog elements added here and there. This album was released in 1993 and far as I know draw little attention in prog scene. Red Jasper's music has a celtic atmosphere on some pieces, some folk moments but combined very well with neo prog arrangements.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Steve Hackett's first orchestral album, featured the London Symphony Orchestra, and revolved around Shakespeare's classic play about the tale of Oberon and Titania. While Hackett had done classical projects in the past as a guitarist, this was certainly among the more complex endeavors he had done to this period of his career. Of course, this album would serve as the catalyst for future inspirations like the Metamorpheus album, which is clearly influenced by Hackett's work on this ambitious project. The 18-studio tracks that make up this release flow beautifully, and Hackett is in top-form on this release. This is without question among Hackett's finest moments as a classical guitarist.

At a glance, this 35-track, two-CD set looks like it's combining two 1960s albums by the Ministry of Sound with bonus tracks. It's not; the Ministry of Sound issued just one single, and this is a witty facsimile of how their discography might have played out if things had turned out differently, complete with mock artwork for two LPs, one from 1966 and one from 1968. So almost all of these 35 cuts, all recorded between 1966-1968, were previously unreleased; the only two that actually came out in the 1960s were on the 1966 single "White Collar Worker"/"Back Seat Driver." The group did deserve better than just one official single, but nor was its output particularly deserving of deluxe treatment.

In 1978 all we had was an idea, the determination to make it a reality and the knowledge gained from a recently acquired Tonmeister diploma. Today, thirty years later, MDG is a label which stands for the highest quality and expertise in the field of classical music…

Continuing his award-winning cycle of works by Felix Mendelssohn, Sir John Eliot Gardiner leads the LSO, his Monteverdi Choir and three talented young actors from the Guildhall in a landmark performance of 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream', which was performed as part of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. To mark the celebrations, Gardiner produced a special version of the work featuring some cuts to the original movements that, in his words, "remove all of the music relating to the Mechanicals and thus focus on the world of the fairies and the human lovers". Mendelssohn, who adored Shakespeare’s writings, composed his concert overture based on 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' in 1827 aged 17, after having read a German translation of the play. The overture was immediately acclaimed as a masterpiece and quickly became a popular favourite throughout Europe. Years later in 1843 he was asked by the King of Prussia to provide a score for an entire production: 14 short works based on themes and moods from the original overture, with a broadly romantic sound although classical in style and structure.